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Friday, 28 April 2017

Friday AM Black Sea agribusiness news

The Belarusian Ministry of Agriculture will respond to complaints
lodged by the Russia food safety watchdog, Rosselkhoznadzor, after
representatives of the Russian agency inspected several Belarusian enterprises.

This is part of an ongoing spat between the two countries which
has resulted in Russia banning imports of many Belarussian products over food safety
concerns which has been rigorously denied by Belarus.

Ukraine’s Prime Minister has pledged to create favourable
conditions for Chinese businesses in Ukraine saying he is committed to sparing
no effort to create conditions for effective cooperation and there is talk of creating China's first modernized agricultural park in Ukraine, whatever that is.

Worth reminding ourselves that back in 2013 China announced (here) they had reached an
agreement with Ukraine to buy three million hectares of farmland which was immediately
refuted by Ukraine saying it had all been a big misunderstanding and what they
had actually agreed to was to investigation cooperation in a three thousand hectare
drip irrigation project, so I wouldn’t take too much notice of these announcements
until something concrete happens.

Ukraine exported 10.5mmt of grain in the first quarter of
2017, 18% more than the same period last year making 2016/17 grain exports a record
high.

Belarus has planted 823,300 hectares of spring cereals and
pulses so far or 88% of the forecast which is about the same as last year.

Russian Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachev said on
Wednesday that Moscow hoped to reach a compromise with Turkey over grain
exports within two weeks.

Russian pig production continues to rise with a 5.3% increase
in the first quarter of 2017 for pigs for slaughter in live weight compared to
the same period last year and amounted to more than 1 million tonnes.